Photo: Press
Air bassists of the world unite! Primus have announced their imminent return with details of a new single and their ninth studio album.
Vocalist and bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander are back with The Desaturating Seven, which is released on September 29 via ATO Records. And to give you a taster of what to expect, they’ve shared a new track, ‘The Seven’, which you can listen to below.
The Desaturating Seven is the band’s first album since 2014’s Primus And The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble and it’s been inspired by a 70s children’s book that Claypool read to his kids when they were growing up. The book tells a story of seven goblins – one representing each color of the rainbow – who simultaneously pull all of the colour out of the world.
Explains Claypool: “Many years ago when my children were little kidlets scurrying around the place wreaking havoc and whatnot until it was time for bed and book time, my wife turned them on to a book called The Rainbow Goblins by Ul De Rico.
“The dark imagery and beauty of the art struck me immediately and I thought, ‘This would make good fodder for a piece of music.’
“The use of colour and darkness both in the paintings and the writing was compelling and now, near two decades later, the metaphor of greed, gluttony and deceit versus the unity of the masses is eerily relevant.
“I brought the notion to the Primus guys and they were all for it. Plus, I figured it's about time someone brought ‘Goblin Rock’ back to the fold.”
As for ‘The Seven’, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from Primus only more so. Still occupying that bizarre hinterland that sits somewhere between the prog rock of Rush and the jet-black humour of Frank Zappa, this is indeed a fine – ahem – primer for what’s to come.
The tracklisting for The Desaturating Seven is:
1. The Valley
2. The Seven
3. The Trek
4. The Scheme
5. The Dream
6. The Storm
7. The Ends?
